Cody Ford entire game vs Alabama video -- quite impressive

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I am officially in the "watch every highlight of Bills draft picks I can get my hands on" part of the offseason.

I wondered about Cody Ford's pass blocking, which I have read is elite. He played in the Big 12, and lots of fans will tell you that that means he wasn't tested often against great pass rushers. Well, here's a an entire game of his against the best defense in college football. He's playing against a few guys that will likely be NFL players rather than grocery baggers. How does he do?

Well...as to this game...the Sooners get down early in this one and have to pass almost exclusively. As such, there aren't a lot of run blocking reps to watch. But the pass blocking? Wow. Ford makes it look effortless. I counted maybe 3 or 4 instances of Ford getting beat by his man in this entire video. The rest of the time? He pretty much just makes it look easy. He takes great angles, manipulates defenders easily, uses his hands well, rarely gets beat around the edge, doesn't often get bull-rushed, and what I've read seems true: If he gets his hands squarely on you, school's out.

This was a treat to watch, and really made me feel good about what should be vastly improved protection in front of Allen. The Bills haven't had a truly good right tackle in what seems like forever. Ford looks like he may finally be that guy.

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There isn't a single guy that gets drafted in the 2nd round where somebody doesn't say "a lot of people had this guy as a 1st rounder," but like the OP said, there are a few guys that will likely be NFL players that he's facing, and from all the post-draft breakdown of this guy, he really DOES seem like a top talent. Eric Wood is really high on him too. Seems like an awesome dude from what we've seen so far.

We have a lot of brute strength upfront on both sides of the ball right now. I still think pound for pound Dawkins has elite strength in run blocking, he can move linemen pretty well, and if he gets his hands on a LB they go back 10 yards.

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You can just see him enforcing his will on whoever is in front of him......even if the defender gets the edge.....he has to work for it so hard that the play is literally decided before the defender can make a play.

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There isn't a single guy that gets drafted in the 2nd round where somebody doesn't say "a lot of people had this guy as a 1st rounder," but like the OP said, there are a few guys that will likely be NFL players that he's facing, and from all the post-draft breakdown of this guy, he really DOES seem like a top talent. Eric Wood is really high on him too. Seems like an awesome dude from what we've seen so far.

We have a lot of brute strength upfront on both sides of the ball right now. I still think pound for pound Dawkins has elite strength in run blocking, he can move linemen pretty well, and if he gets his hands on a LB they go back 10 yards.

I saw him rated as the Top Tackle prospect by some. It is not a stretch if Buffalo had him as a top 20 to 30 player on their board. Tackle was a need, Fords value at 38 was too much to miss out so they traded up. Makes sense. I believe you go get the guys you want day 2 and use some ammo from day 3 to do it. Ford added with the numerous signings really improves the worst position group on the team. Ideally, you have Dawkins and Ford at Tackle, Morse at center than a free for all at both guard positions. That will probably be the most interesting position battles. Who is the starting 5 opening.

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The pancake on the flea flicker at 4:54 is great. I hope Murray enjoyed the offensive line who was arguably the best in college football last year. Something tells me he may have to step up his game with the Cardinals.

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I know the press talks about Oliver being a steal because he fell to us at #9. Ford May very well be the best pick of this Bills draft class. I really can’t wait to see how he does when the action is live.

What took me a while to come around on Ford was the fact I still have somewhat of that old-school mentality when it comes to right tackles, and I had to check myself on it. He is a big guy at 6’4 and almost 330 pounds, but Ford was not a physically dominating presence when it came to run blocking, and initially that was somewhat of a disappointment.

Which is not to say Ford was a bad run blocker.

The truth is, assignment-wise at least, he looked at least solid, if not spectacular. However, he just didn’t have the same initial “pop” on contact that jumps off the screen as, say, a guy like Jawaan Taylor.

Ford also didn’t drive a lot of guys off the ball, either. Mind you, he rarely lost ground after he engaged with a defender, but there just weren’t a lot “explosive” run blocks on his tape.

But you know what, after reflecting on it, I don’t really care all that much about whether or not Ford was pancaking fools left and right. Yeah, that would’ve been nice, but I can live with him being just an “OK” run blocker, because when it came time to throw the ball he was putting clamps on these dudes.

...

While it’s true that he didn’t rack up a bunch of pancakes, Ford was routinely what I would call a “just enough” guy. He would get just enough push on the defender to give the ball carrier a lane to work with. Those kinds of blocks aren’t as exciting to watch, but as long as they’re effective, that’s all that truly matters.

I also want to point out that while Ford wasn’t freight-training guys on the second level like Taylor, once he got on somebody at linebacker depth, he usually stayed on them for the duration.

As a matter of fact, some of his best blocks were out in space where his athleticism was able to shine through yet again.

You sound a lot like the author before he watched a bunch of film on Ford. Sure, he's not a huge mauler that's running guys over, but he does enough in the run game and is a very good pass blocker. Honestly, that sounds so much better than the nonsense that's been put at RT recently.

I don't need the O-line to be this insane dominant force (although that would be amazing), they just need to do their job. My favorite part about watching Ford is once he's engaged, you almost never saw guys shed his block and make a play. Sure it happened here and there, but for the most part, he's a steady RT that does his job very well, albeit maybe unspectacular.

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This was what I was trying to say about building our offense around the passing game. Maybe Ford doesn’t quite have the athleticism you’d look for in a tackle but he gets the job done. He was 4th best out of all the draft eligible tackles in fewest pressures allowed per snap. The guy is going to be good.

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I am officially in the "watch every highlight of Bills draft picks I can get my hands on" part of the offseason.

I wondered about Cody Ford's pass blocking, which I have read is elite. He played in the Big 12, and lots of fans will tell you that that means he wasn't tested often against great pass rushers. Well, here's a an entire game of his against the best defense in college football. He's playing against a few guys that will likely be NFL players rather than grocery baggers. How does he do?

Well...as to this game...the Sooners get down early in this one and have to pass almost exclusively. As such, there aren't a lot of run blocking reps to watch. But the pass blocking? Wow. Ford makes it look effortless. I counted maybe 3 or 4 instances of Ford getting beat by his man in this entire video. The rest of the time? He pretty much just makes it look easy. He takes great angles, manipulates defenders easily, uses his hands well, rarely gets beat around the edge, doesn't often get bull-rushed, and what I've read seems true: If he gets his hands squarely on you, school's out.

This was a treat to watch, and really made me feel good about what should be vastly improved protection in front of Allen. The Bills haven't had a truly good right tackle in what seems like forever. Ford looks like he may finally be that guy.

The sack is not Ford's fault at all. He had Jennings blocked. Murray just happened to run within reach of Jennings.

What is great about that film is that, as a RT, Ford (#74) went up against two 2020 first rounders - DT Raekwon Davis (#99) and OLB Anfernee Jennings (#33) - and more than held his own. The plays at the 7:20 mark and 10 minute mark are particularly eye opening. One can see the guard pedigree as well - the way Ford goes across the formation reminded me of a pulling Richie Incognito on the latter's best day. Excited.

I think Ed Oliver and Ford will bring out the best in each other. Irresistable force against an Immovable object!

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a guy that has good technique but needs to beef up his muscle is a guy who can be an all pro in three years more easily than a physical freak with no technique. i hope he can get stronger but i am confident he will be adequate until then.

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I came away not as impressed as I thought I would be. Against NFL DEs and OLBs I don’t know that his strength will hold up. He seems like he is barely hanging on after the initial punch from the defender. That said, I was impressed by his focus, awareness, and his ability to position himself between the defender and his QB in the most optimal way. He is someone we can hope to turn into a mediocre starting RT, which is still a major upgrade from having the worst starting RT. There have been so many times the last 2 seasons where the right side of our line looked completely lost and clueless.